This invention relates to a forced convection oven for food.
Development of the fast food business has led to considerable demand for quick and efficient means for heating and cooking food. The demand is also present in relation to domestic food preparation because of today's faster lifestyles. One development in satisfaction of this demand has been the widespread acceptance of microwave ovens. Microwave ovens are relatively energy efficient, while considerably decreasing the heating or cooking time when compared with standard ovens or stoves. However, one problem associated with microwave ovens is that the food is heated without the surface browning associated with, for example, baking or frying. The surface browning gives the food a desirable appearance, texture and taste. This means that some items, such as french fried potatoes and pizza pies, are not cooked by a microwave oven in a manner satisfactory to many people.
The common way of heating and cooking frozen french fried potatoes is deep frying in hot fat or oil. However, when deep frying is carried on at a business premises, it may give rise to increased fire insurance rates. This may mean that food outlets at shopping centers, for example, are prohibited from using deep frying as the fire insurance for the entire shopping center would increase. If french fries are to be sold, the operator of the food outlet is forced to find alternative means of cooking. One solution is embodied in the cooking apparatus disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,155,294 to Langhammer. In this device, the french fries or other food is placed in a cage which is rotated within a stationary drum while a stream of hot air is directed towards the cage through an aperture in the wall of the drum. The rotation of the cage relative to the stream of hot air assures uniform cooking of the food. However, it is readily apparent that this apparatus is not suitable for cooking many foods due to the tumbling action within the cage. Foods such as pizzas and submarine sandwiches would be destroyed by the tumbling action.
U.S. Pat. No. 2,939,383 to Kanaga discloses a cooking device wherein food is tumbled within a rotating drum while being cooked by radiant heating.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,184,420 to Podaras shows a barbeque oven including a rotatable meat holder. A plurality of racks for supporting food are pivotally connected to the meat holder so the racks remain upright as the meat holder rotates.
Other cooking apparatuses having a rotating drum with food positioned therein are disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,048,473 to Burkhart; 2,004,775 to Wright and 4,165,684 to Wallace.
None of the earlier devices discussed above offers a satisfactory solution to the problem of quickly and properly cooking many types of food items, such as sandwiches or pizzas, which cannot be tumbled in a rotating drum.